>> very good stuff. >> yes. >> see you on >> live and in hd, this is "good morning washington," on your side. >> straight ahead, residents along the east coast bracing for hurricane sandy. the storm blamed for at least 21 deaths. good morning, washington. it's friday, october 26. i am cynne simpson. >> i am steve chenevey. let's get to meteorologist jacqui jeras. >> happy friday. all eyes on sandy category 1 hurricane now. there was some weakening and that's good news. but there could be some type of strike from the mid-atlantic somewhere into the northeast. i hope that it will stay to our north and we would be on the good side of the system.

first we have to get you through this morning. it is foggy outside and a little mist could affect the morning commute. we could get breaks in the clouds by this afternoon like yesterday. 68 by noon, 70 by 5:00. back to you. >> thank you. local utility companies continue preparing ahead of sandy. this morning bge employees will stock their vehicles with power restoration manuals. pepco officials this afternoon will provide information to the public on how to prepare. some experts predict the storm could leave at least $1 billion in damage. >> local residents are doing what they can to prepare for every brings. autria godfrey has more. >> crashing into the caribbean hurricane sandy and toppling trees and pulling down power lines and leaving thousands

stranded. the storm that is threatening to slam into the d.c. region is a bad weather behemoth that's estimated to cause $1 billion in damages. no stranger to preparing for the worst, the manager at a restaurant in old town has sandbags on standby at the front door. >> anytime this happens we lose a lot of money. >> across the area, people are preparing for blast of wild weather. pepco crews are hoping to keep outages in college park to a minimum, something some alexandria would see in their neighborhood. >> i guess i will stocked up on dog food for the dog at. >> some residents are in the dark for days during another storm with her 6-week-old. >> we will make sure we have water, batteries and so forth

and maybe go to a hotel early this time. >> we invite you to stay with abc 7 news for complete coverage. we will watch the storm track during our newscasts and on-line at wjla.com and on facebook and twitter. >> let's check on the commute with jamee whitten. >> foggy conditions. in springfield visibility is not good but no problems are reported on 95 between stafford and the beltway. in the district, reports of a tractor-trailer coming from new york avenue going into the tunnel towards 395 that is stuck so commuters cannot get on to the freeway to get store as the outbound bridge.

they are working on it. on the beltway, they are trying to clear construction from oversight. you know about the hot lanes project. back to you. >> thank you. with 11 days to go until the election, president obama getting a break from a grueling road schedule, in the district today at 5:00 p.m., taking part in a 30-minute interview on mtv. he will answer questions submitted by viewers on mtv's facebook page. joe biden campaigning in wisconsin today. the first lady is campaigning in san diego and las vegas. >> she made an appearance on jimmy kimmel live on thursday and she spoofed a political ad urging people to vote. >> [horns blowing] >> ofandup, up, up.

time to vote. out the door. and eat some carrots. have you voted? >> don't worry, i already voted. >> thank-you dmguillermo. fle>> when it comes to the republican ticket, mitt romney and paul ryan attending a rally in iowa today. paul ryan will also campaign in alabama. ann romney campaigning in virginia beach, with an expert and richmond. arizona senator john mccain stumping for romney in woodbridge and in fairfax. >> jim moran speaking out about the criminal probe into his

son's actions. arlington police launched an investigation after a conservative group released an undercover video of patrick moran allegedly giving a plan to commit the voter fraud. he doespatrick resigned from the campaign. >> there's a new report revealing where wealthy singles are located in the d.c. area. >> and what wall street is watching today. linda bell has more from bloomberg in new york. >> we're watching apple. stock-index futures indicating a lower open. dropping 100 points for the dow jones. apple is spending more to refresh its product line to keep up with samsung. apple sold your ipads in the than what analysts predicted, mainly because customers were waiting for the ipad mini. the pentagon may be able to help out apple's business. it plans to open its network for

the first time to iphone as well as google operating systems. the defense department would be able to provide alternatives to the blackberry. looking for love in our nation's capital? a list of where the richest men and women live alone. new york city topped the list. arlington, virginia, in second place. halloween costumes in the office. is that they do or don't? more on that in the next hour. linda bell reporting. back to you. >> thank you. 4:37 60 degrees. >> you will need an umbrella and some patients if you are using metro this weekend.

>> its friday morning. we want to check in with jummy olabanji. >> a suspicious death in leesburg. >> they say just before 1:00 this morning they received phone calls from family members because victim's family members had not seen her in several days. police got to an apartment located in the 800 block of edward's ferry rd.

they found the body of a hispanic female in her early 20s inside the apartment. police have not released identity. police believe it is an isolated incident and that there's no threat to the greater community. we have a crew headed to leesburg right now. as soon as we get more information, we will update you later in the newscast. back to you. >> thank you. we want to check in with jacqui jeras. all the talk about storms on the horizon. >> as it should be. our concern is tightening with time, unfortunately. we will have an impact from sandy. just how bad is the question. my thinking is it will go up to our north and we will see some rain and wind and minor effects but we still need to be prepared. we have clouds and fog to start this morning. visibility is down to about two

miles in fredericksburg. to 0.5 miles in quantico. 5 miles in gaithersburg, six in the seat that will go down a little in the next couple hours. 63 at reagan national, 62 at dulles. it is a warm start. mostly cloudy and 68 by noon with some breaks of sunshine late in the day around 70 degrees. two days before the big changes. that in a few minutes. first, let's check on trafficked. >> good morning. you mentioned poor visibility. allow a little extra time on the roads and be cautious. on the beltway in maryland, the overnight roadwork is completed between new hampshire and university. the inner loop from silver spring and towards college park, completely wrapped up the long- term project. no confusion in that area. let's take you into.

the into southbound, in down third street tunnel, there is a step tractor-trailer so you cannot get on to the westbound freeway to head into virginia towards the 14th street bridge. back to you. >> thank you. give yourself extra time if you are planning to use metro this weekend. >> the red line trains will be single-tracking between forest glen and the and the orange line trains between stadium- armory and cheverly. green line trains will single track between greenbelt and college park. on saturday, blue line trains will single track between franconia's springfield and van dorn street. the blue line will single-track only on saturday. it is 60 degrees outside. >> a disturbing case involving a new york city police officer has local ties. an alleged plot by the officer to

>> a bizarre story in new york city. a new york police officers charged in a horrifying plots and he has ties to our area. a warning. this is graphic. prosecutors say the new york city police officer gilberto valle plotted to kidnap, kill cook, and eat 100 women. he graduated from the university of maryland in 2006 after studying psychology and criminal-justice. the news was shocking to current students. >> that terrible. it's worse than anything i've ever seen on tv. >> he was suspended after his arrest and is being held without bail. none of the women were actually harmed. >> the man charged in the

shooting at the family research council in downtown washington as a status hearing today. floyd corkins allegedly shot and wounded a guard in august. this week a grand jury handed down new indictments against him that include seven new charges. among them, committing an act of terror while armed, and attempted murder. two men involved in a high-speed chase that killed a prince george's county officer have been indicted. officer adrian morris died in august when he lost control of his police cruiser and crashed as he was casing two suspects in a stolen car. the suspects are charged with felony theft. neal also faces murder vehicle -- motor vehicle manslaughter. the prince george's county jury found adrian johnson guilty on all charges for a crash that happened in february of last year in brandywine.

johnson was beating with a blood alcohol level over three times the legal limit when he crashed into a car. laurens barnard jr. was killed and his passenger seriously injured -- lawrence garner jr.. >> their 18-year-old son lost his life in a completely avoidable incident. >> he was my last child at, my baby. >> johnson will be sentenced in december and faces 13 years in prison. >> 4:49. new york city mayor michael bloomberg holding a news conference in baltimore today in support of same-sex marriage in maryland. he will be joined by governor o'malley and the mayor of baltimore. but recently donated $250,000 to the marylanders for marriage quality campaign. voters will decide in the november election. >> funeral services today for

former democratic presidential nominee george mcgovern. the vice president's will be there for prayer service in south dakota. george mcgovern will eventually be buried in washington at rock creek cemetery in northwest. he died last sunday at the age of 90. animal rights activists taking aim at plans to reduce the deer population in rock creek park. >> they're asking a federal judge to block the kill. activists say that the population can be controlled with fences and contraception. thousands of runners getting ready to give the streets of d.c. and arlington for the annual marine corps marathon. >> they're putting the finishing touches on the signs and the stands before sunday's race. metro will open at 5:00 a.m. to help get the runners and spectators where they need to go. a number of streets in d.c. and arlington will be closed. complete list of all the closures are now web site,

wjla.com. 4:50, 60 degrees. >> tim tebow is deali

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning. jacqui jeras here with a cloudy start on this friday morning. a little foggy. 53 -- it is 63 degrees at reagan

national. 63 in manassas, 63 in quantico and 61 in culpeper. 61 in winchester and martinsburg and hagerstown this morning. visibility is dropping, down to 6 miles in d.c. when you get into the shenandoah valley and low-lying areas visibility will be a little worse, so it will possibly be slow on the road. use caution and take your time. there's a satellite picture of hurricane sandy. the storm has weaken a little at. a mild start maximum sustained winds. the storm is still expected to pack a punch and will likely have a huge impact all across parts of the mid atlantic and into the northeast but it these lines are computer model forecasts. some of them do bring it near

our area. we are starting to see more of a blend of models moving it farther up to the north. if so, we would have less of an impact. still some flooding and power outages could be possible. morning fog today with partly sunny skies this afternoon, high temperature between 68 and 72. a little cooler by saturday. chance of rain tomorrow. better chance of rain and getting very windy on monday and tuesday. our temperatures dropping with a strong cold front with highs only in the '50s. that's all. let's check on trafficked. >> good morning. i'm listening closely to yield because i'm concerned about halloween -- closely to you. in the third street tunnel coming from the new york avenue to get into virginia, there was a tractor-trailer stalled, but that has been cleared away.

around the beltway, looking good. no problems on 50 at 97. no problems on 270 down through to the capital beltway appear it springfield, a little foggy and poor visibility. 95 southbound near lorton, a crash they are trying to clear to the shoulder. back to you. >> thank you. your last chance if you like to enter our contest to win two vip tickets to justin bieber's concert at the verizon center. >> he will perform on november 5. we will give the final daley clue during abc 7 news at 5:00 today. then go to our facebook page and enter. then we will announce a winner on monday, october 29, on abc 7 news at 5:00. in our 6:00 hour this morning we will be the djoined by a

producer and singer,. >> ryan leslie. we will speak with the harvard graduate about his new album which is number one in eight countries on the pop charts. and what makes him so different from all the other artists out there. you can get that in our 6:00 hour. now, sports, the results of a new poll. >> who is the most overrated player in the nfl? in first place is tim tebow ou, followed by mark sanchez. the judds head coach was asked about it and he said the jets always seem to get something. in third place is tony romo of the cowboys. then michael vick of the eagles. and ray lewis of the ravens. >> 4:57, 60 degrees.

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